Dag van De Vrijwilliger: Give home for 25 years

December 5 is the international day of the volunteer. Journalist students at PXL University of Applied Sciences were looking for striking stories from volunteers. People in poverty often experience barriers, including those in financial, social and cultural areas, which make the road more difficult. Café Anonymous tries to get rid of this barrier and give the homeless Hasselt and the surroundings a warm home. This site is run by 16 volunteers and six professional community workers from RIMO Limburg vzw.

Volunteers are appreciated and admired today on International Volunteering Day, Café Anonymous in Hasselt has five basic functions aimed at efficient operation since 1993: very low threshold access so everyone is welcome and offers CAW assistants who guide visitors to the right services, develop meaningful day and leisure activities, focus on the growth of their visitors through to stimulate their resilience, critical awareness and sense of participation in society and work with the causes of their exclusion and deprivation. Dag van De Vrijwilliger

“Volunteers are a major added value here,” explains social workers at Café Anonym Linda Bleukx. “Without their efforts, this initiative would not be feasible.” The volunteers ensure that Café Anonymi opens six days a week, that it is a cozy meeting place, including laundry and shower facilities, affordable meals, computers with free Wi-Fi and a charging station. for mobile phones. In addition, a CAW Advisor is present three days a week. “Café Anonymous door is open to all,” says it.

“New candidate volunteers register regularly,” says Bleukx. “Mutual respect and sense of justice, of course, play an important and crucial role when you want to commit to vulnerable groups, but volunteers often do self-care as well. They also want to make sense of their own lives with volunteer work, for example through social isolation or unemployment. “

In 1985, the United Nations proclaimed the 5th of December as “Volunteer International Day”. With this day they want to put volunteering around the world in the spotlight. Dag van De Vrijwilliger